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3.05 AVERAGE
3.05 AVERAGE
The idea of the story was better than how it was exceuted. And the ending just came out of nowhere. I felt like I was reading 2 different books and neither of them were satisfying.
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I never want to hear the phrase "true fact" again
I love Palahniuk's books, but this one was my least favorite. I use that phrasing b/c it's still a better book than many out there. This book deals with porn, so it just seemed like it was trying to push limits, whereas previous books just went ahead and pushed. Invisible Monsters, Rant and others were better. I still think Palahniuk is the Kurt Vonnegut of this generation.
Palahniuk is a good author, and this would be a good book if you get over the shock value.
it's been a while since I've read a book properly, since I've felt my way through the mind, world and bodies of a bunch of characters. So I may as well start with one of my favourite writers writing a book about sex and death and sexy death and deadly sex.
Snuff carries the usual crude wit and fucked up characters of a Palahniuk novel, using the setting of an epic porn movie to analyse male and female bodily autonomy, attitudes towards sex, privacy and identity. This is the kind of shit I enjoy.
But I finished this wanting something more. A story jumping between the heads of four characters, jumping between different head-space emotionally and temporally doesn't quite work at all times: characters have thoughts that are forgotten by their next chapter, bitter anger making way for confused reaching for a sense of meaning only to return to that sense of anger when the moment requires.
The head hopping that I usually find works for Palahniuk is too similar in its characters for this outing, identifying the characters by their actions and thoughts rather than a unique voice. Realistically, this is probably more of a 3.5/5 book, were it not for the gloriously named porn movies and pastiches referenced.
Snuff carries the usual crude wit and fucked up characters of a Palahniuk novel, using the setting of an epic porn movie to analyse male and female bodily autonomy, attitudes towards sex, privacy and identity. This is the kind of shit I enjoy.
But I finished this wanting something more. A story jumping between the heads of four characters, jumping between different head-space emotionally and temporally doesn't quite work at all times: characters have thoughts that are forgotten by their next chapter, bitter anger making way for confused reaching for a sense of meaning only to return to that sense of anger when the moment requires.
The head hopping that I usually find works for Palahniuk is too similar in its characters for this outing, identifying the characters by their actions and thoughts rather than a unique voice. Realistically, this is probably more of a 3.5/5 book, were it not for the gloriously named porn movies and pastiches referenced.
dark
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use, Sexual assault
I’ve been a fan of Chuck Palaniuk ever since I read my first book of his. He has such a talent for taking strange happenings and making them almost supernatural. Like this lovely novel Snuff here. Sure, it’s about a porn star, but he adds so much more substance to the storyline that it’s…amazing. My only - literally, only - complaint about this book is that the story seems a little choppy at times because it’s told through the perspectives of five different men.
Although there is no doubt that Chuck Palahniuk is a great story-teller, I found this book to be quite underwhelming in regards to its literary quality. I was expecting a mind-bending kind of story like Fight Club, but all this book really offered was porn in text format. While I guess you can surely argue that Palahniuk pushed the line in the subject matter of this story, it was done without offering much else. Often it was trite and ridiculous.
I finished this book quite disappointed. Luckily it was a short, easy read or I might have put it aside for something better.
I finished this book quite disappointed. Luckily it was a short, easy read or I might have put it aside for something better.